The most famous - possibly infamous - fence in sport. Becher's stands a modest 4ft 10in on the take-off side, but the problems come on landing, partly due to the 2ft 'brook' - nowadays filled with a modest 1" of water. More dangerous is the drop on the landing side of nearly 2ft, which has caused some riders to declare it like "stepping off the edge of the world". The drop used to be much more severe on the inside of the track, but in recent years this has been levelled off because of the number of horses injured or killed.

The fence gets its name from Captain Martin Becher, who rode Conrad in the first National in 1839. Conrad ploughed into the sixth fence, catapaulting Becher over the top and into the brook. He is reputed to have said he had not known how "dreadful water tastes without whisky in it".